Standing Still
by Mentally-Unstable
Summary: An unlikely encounter late at night...


**Fandom: **Pokemon(anime)

**Title: **Standing Still

**Genre: **Romance/General

**Rating: **PG

**Summary: **An unlikely encounter late at night...

**Authors Note: **Ok..yes..I am an AAML freak and a RocketShipper. I have been since I first saw Pokemon. BUT, I have also wanted to write this story ever since I saw Forest Grumps so...yeah. You may throw burning fruit at me if you wish...but I still like this pairing in a weird little way. XD XD

**Disclaimers: **Anything and everything Pokemon are copyright 1998-2011 Kazuki Takahashi, Nintendo, and GameFreak. I dont own any of those either.

****

xXxxXxxXx

Misty awoke with a start and immediately looked over at the cluster of trees nearby.

__

What was that?

She sighed quietly, brushing the sound off as the wind, or a stray Pokemon. She wouldnt dare tell Ash and Brock, but after the past two days interesting events, she was afraid that a pack of rampaging Ursaring was on their trail.

She laughed softly, knowing it was a stupid fear, and that the Ursaring were miles away from where she was now. She comforted herself in thinking that the Ursaring were probably more scared of her than she was of them.

She shook her head and, after checking on Togepi, lay back down to try to get some sleep, only to hear the strange noise again.

She popped back up, and again, looking at her comrades both sound asleep, decided she would see herself what it was. Something was out there, and Ursaring or not, Misty Waterflower was determined to find out what it was. She picked up Togepi, who was still asleep, and picked up her backpack and stepped over the sleeping form of Brock, before making her way towards the forest.

****

..xXx..

_Itll be my luck Ill get lost in here. _Misty thought as she walked through the darkened area, practically feeling her way around, seeing as how the trees blocked the light of the full moon. She walked slowly, so as not to smack into a tree, or worse, an Ursaring, and careful not to hurt Togepi, who had just woken up.

"Toge?" The small Pokemon squeaked in confusion.

Misty looked down at him and smiled, "Its ok, Togepi, were just going for a walk. You can go back to sleep."

But instead of dozing off again, Togepi waved its arms around, smiling and laughing, "Toge..Toge-pi!"

"Yeah, you never get to stay up this late, do you, Togepi?" Her mind was on Togepi, and she barely noticed the sudden burst of light. She looked up, and saw that shed come out of the forest, and was now standing in a large clearing, where the moon was reflecting off a giant lake.

And she heard the sound again.

With a yelp, she ducked behind a tree, and peeped out from behind it to watch the clearing, which was the direction the noise came from.

"Weezing!" A familiar voice yelled, "I'm tired of chasing after you! Can't we take a break?"

Misty froze..was that who she thought it was?

Suddenly, a Weezing flew out into the clearing, and landed on the ground next to the lake. Not far behind came a Victreebell, and then James, one third of the infamous Team Rocket, who was clearly tired and out of breath. He stopped and sat down next to his Pokemon, "..Y-You two..are..more..energetic..than..oh.." He fell backwards onto the ground, laughing to himself.

__

James? What's he doing here? Where's Jessie and Meowth?

Then, she heard the noise again, and this time, it was coming from behind her.

__

Oh no

Slowly, she turned around, and came face-to-face with the cruel looking eyes of a Houndour.

"Togepi?"

"Toge?"

Misty gulped, and whispered, "Be really quiet."

The Houndour snarled, and then lunged at her, but before it had a chance to attack, Misty took off into the clearing, screaming bloody murder. James looked up at the sight of the twerp running and screaming like crazy, and when she fell down, he thought she had completely lost it. Then he saw the Houndour running after her.

"Weezing, attack!" He yelled, and Weezing flew over to the Houndour.

"Tackle it and then use Poison Gas attack!"

Weezing did as James said; tackling Houndour in the side and knocking it over, the Poison Gas leaving the Houndour in a sickly state. The dog Pokemon must not have been as tough as it acted, because after Weezing's attack, it ran back into the woods, whimpering and yelping loudly.

James looked over at Misty, who had curled up in a ball holding Togepi. He walked over and knelt down beside her, "Hey..are you ok?"

"Huh?" She snapped her head up, just now realizing what had happened, "James? Wha? Huh..? You..you saved me!"

"You know, it's really not smart to wander through a forest at night like this. There's no telling what kind of dangers you're going to run into, Pokemon or otherwise."

"You saved me!" Instantly, she wrapped her arms around his neck, but quickly pulled away when she realized what she was doing, "I mean..uhh..thank you."

He nodded, and outstretched his hand to help her up.

"What are you doing all the way out here anyway?" He asked, "It's not like a twerp to wander from its pack."

She narrowed her eyes, "Me? What about you! I thought thieves that stole together, stayed together!"

"Oooh..my own wittiness turned back on me."

She grinned.

"Well, no one else knows this, but sometimes when Meowth and Jessie are asleep, I bring my Pokemon out to get some fresh air and play around." He looked at her, "I may work for Team Rocket, but that doesn't mean I dont love my Pokemon."

She smiled, "And a softer side of James emerges."

"I'm really not all that bad once you get to know me. But don't let Jessie hear that." He headed back towards the lake, and subconsciously, she followed him.

"So...Jessie is really that mean?" She didn't know what she was doing...having a normal, everyday conversation with James from Team Rocket? No one does that unless Team Rocket is in one of their wacky costumes. However, ever since she and James had to spend the night together, hiding from the pack of Ursaring, she didnt think he was _all_ bad. Which _is_ exactly what he just confessed.

"Jessie isn't mean, _per se_, just bossy. Sure, she can be moody, but what woman isn't?"

Misty, although a female herself, had to agree. Women _were _moody. She'd learned that much growing up with three older sisters.

"But you never answered my question, what are you doing out here?" James asked, sitting down in the grass.

"Well, I heard a noise and made the mistake of coming to see what it was. I was...kind of afraid it was more Ursaring." Again, subconsciously, she sat down cross-legged next to him.

He looked at her, eyebrow raised.

She laughed nervously, "Crazy, I know, but..."

"No, I've had the same fear all night." He shook his head, "That's one experience I wont forget anytime soon."

She nodded, and looked down at Togepi, who was wriggling to get free. She set him down on the ground, and smiled, "Dont wander off too far, Togepi, be careful."

"Toge!" Togepi waved his arms again, and sat down in the cool grass.

"Well, this is a new scene, isn't it?" James said thoughtfully, "I think this is the only time we've talked that we weren't arguing or fighting."

"Yeah, this _is _pretty weird." She shrugged, then frowned deeply, "But it's not my fault we're on opposite sides of the law. What am I even doing? You're a Pokemon thief!"

"Well now, just a minute!" James said loudly, "You can't judge a man based solely on his occupation. After all, I saved you from that Houndour didn't I? You wouldn't have thought I would, but I did."

"You call what you do an occupation?" Misty eyed him incredulously, crossing her arms over her chest. Maybe she was being stubborn, but she couldn't help it. She'd already let her guard down too many times in the past five minutes.

"I'm just saying...you can't judge a person because of a life they've been forced to lead." James averted his eyes and leaned back on his elbows, his gaze wandering to the clear sky above them. Misty suddenly felt guilty, until she remembered what they'd learned about James's past.

"Wait a minute!" Misty huffed, "You came from a totally rich family! You could have anything in the world. You weren't forced to live the life you are!"

"Pssh. You met my parents!" James shook his head, "No, if I took my rightful place as heir, my entire life would be planned out before me. Atleast this way I'm somewhat free. Sure, I may have scrounge and scrape for every meal, but we make it. Atleast, most of the time...I'm actually happy."

Misty studied the profile of his face at that point. It seemed that in his reminisence, a light shone in his eyes that seemed to show his true happiness. The corner of his mouth turned up into a smirk, and then a half-smile. He actually looked...like a pokemon trainer. Like a normal, every day guy. Like a man.

"Well then I guess that's all that matters." Misty found herself saying quietly. James looked over and their eyes met. In that moment of silence, something passed between them, and neither of them could figure out what. Misty's heart skipped a beat, and James's breath caught in his throat. In one moment, everything stood still.

"_Toge-ge...prrrriiiiiiii!"_

Misty's head snapped up and she looked over just as Togepi was about to waddle curiously into the lake.

"Togepi, no!" Misty cried and jumped to her feet. Just as Togepi put one tiny foot into the edge of the water, green vines suddenly wrapped around him gently and held him up to safely. Victreebell made a groaning sound as it used it's vines to hand Togepi safely back to Misty, who heaved a sigh of relief. "Wow...thank you, Victreebell!"

The Victreebell made a nonchalant sound as he wandered off to go find Weezing.

Misty smiled to herself - as it turned out, both James and his pokemon weren't so bad. She hugged Togepi tightly to her chest and then turned to find James had made it to his feet and was standing inches away. She swallowed and looked up at him, "Well, I guess I should be going..."

"Me too." James yawned and reached into his pocket for his pokeballs, "I have to actually try and get some sleep. Long day tomorrow, ya know? Lots of trickery to get up to." He winked.

Misty smiled, "Mhm, I bet." She turned her back to head back to the camping spot and suddenly she stopped, "Good night, James." She said quietly, unsure of whether or not he even heard her.

"Good night, Misty."

She smiled and continued on to the camp, completely willing to ignore the fact that it was the first time she'd ever heard him say her name.


End file.
